Some years ago the soul vocal group The Tams recorded the hit song “What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am?” and I am asking the same question.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar, Ferguson Police Chief Tom Jackson, Missouri Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley and Ferguson Mayor James Knowles: What kinds of fools do you think we are?
Why would you prepare for a riot in Ferguson if the result of the grand jury wasn’t foreseen? Why were police in riot gear and the National Guard deployed if the persons named above did not anticipate that the St. Louis County grand jury would not indict Darren Wilson? Why did New York prepare for protests and possible violence in the wake of the Eric Garner grand jury decision?
The families of Michael Brown Jr. and Eric Garner have been damaged, disrespected, insulted and offended, as well as hundreds of thousands who had waited for the decisions of these grand juries. And now most news organizations have made the victims appear as aggressors and criminals.
They repeatedly proclaim that Michael Brown Jr. was charging his killer Darren Wilson and the officer fired in self-defense, fearing for his life. How ludicrous is that? They dismissed eyewitness accounts that Brown had surrendered.
They also insinuate that Eric Garner was resisting arrest, regardless of the video evidence that the entire world has seen. The city medical examiner has ruled the death of Eric Garner a homicide, declaring a chokehold killed him and said compression of the neck and chest, along with Garner’s positioning on the ground while being restrained by police, was the cause of death.
Now revolutionaries are demonstrating across the country chanting “I can’t breathe” and carrying various signs such as “No Justice No Peace and “Black Lives Matter.” They blocked traffic in St. Louis, New York, Chicago, Boston and many other cities.
And now some authorities can’t understand why the masses are calling for fundamental reforms of policing at the federal, state and local levels. They can’t comprehend why New York’s Democrat Mayor Bill De Blasio met with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Rev. Al Sharpton in Washington to discuss events in Ferguson. Some cannot realize that racism is systemic therefore the system must change.
The families have suffered enough, and it is time for the federal government to intervene and show some appearance of fairness and equality. How do you expect all of the marchers to remain peaceful? They too are asking, “What kind of fool do you think I am?”
Please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday night at 10 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 5:30 p.m. on KNLC-TV Ch. 24. I can be reached by fax at 314-837-3369 or e-mail at: berhay@swbell.net.
